TRENTON -- Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr. presided over his last legislative session today, capping a 22-year career in state politics. But as the moment came close, the Camden County Democrat, who announced his retirement last summer, conceded he had mixed feelings.

"There’s a big part of me that thinks I’m making the biggest mistake of my life in leaving," Roberts, 57, said last week in an interview at his Brooklawn office. "But I think it’s time. Why not leave while I’m on top? Why wait until I get booted out?"

Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerAssembly Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr. served his final day in the Assembly today, after 22 years in the Legislature.
He calls his time in the Assembly "extraordinary" — recalling how his big first break in politics came in 1979, when then-U.S. Rep. Jim Florio walked into Rexy’s, a bar in Mount Ephraim where Roberts bartended, and told him "if you ever want to do something different, let me know." Then a Bellmawr councilman, Roberts called and began working for him the next week.

"Even at a very young age, he’s always been mature and stable — he was always sort of an overachiever," said Florio.

In the Assembly, Roberts fought for the state’s needle exchange program and reformed the affordable housing program. He advocated for abolishing the death penalty and sponsored the controversial bill that created same-sex civil unions. And his insistence that part of a sales tax hike be used for property tax relief in 2006 prompted a battle with Gov. Jon Corzine that helped produce the infamous week long shutdown of state government.

"I’m not there to tackle the easy problems, someone else can do that," he said. "I think I’m there, frankly, to be a voice for folks that don’t have a seat at the table."

Roberts said his advocacy comes from 23 years of living in Camden, and from his late parents: his father, Joseph Roberts Sr., who ran the family funeral parlor, and his mother, Peg, a state committeewoman, who taught him "if you believe in something, you fight for it."

Roberts said he regrets he won’t be around to finish the effort to revamp New Jersey’s property tax system, among his top priorities. He still believes the state is making strides on consolidation and thinks that with a new administration and a more difficult economic climate, leaders may revisit his call for a constitutional convention on the issue.

Roberts’ other priority was restoring civility to the Assembly, where he once witnessed two assemblymen suggest taking their disagreement to the street outside.

"There were lots of times when people were just going at each others’ throats." Roberts said. "Citizens were saying ‘I’ve had enough of these guys,’ and who can blame them?"

Lawmakers say he will leave the chamber a different place than when he arrived.

"Joe’s strategy was to make sure there’s a level of collegiality," said Assemblyman John Burzichelli, (D-Gloucester). "There would still be debate, but it would be less harsh."

Roberts, nominated by Corzine last week for a spot on the Rutgers University Board of Governors, does not rule out running for higher office in the future, or working in Trenton to advance causes that are important to him, such as additional services for autism treatment.

The only concrete plan he’s made is spending time at his shore home in Sea Isle City.

Joseph Roberts announces he will not seek re-electionIn an afternoon press conference, Wednesday, Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts confirmed that he will not seek re-election at the end of his term. This will end a 22-year career in the legislature. (Video by Michael Monday/The Star-Ledger)